I repeat it, Jean, it was his dearest wish.

You can not have forgotten it." "No, I have not forgotten; but if my father sees me, and hears me, I am certain that he understands and forgives me, for it is on his account." "On his account ?" "Yes.

When I heard that he was dead, and when I heard how he died, all at once, without any need of reflection, I said to myself that I would be a soldier, and I will be a soldier! Godfather, and you, Madame, I beg you not to prevent me." The child burst into tears--a perfect flood of passionate tears.

The Countess and the Abbe soothed him with gentle words.
"Yes--yes--it is settled," they said; "anything that you wish, all that you wish." Both had the same thought--leave it to time; Jean is only a child; he will change his mind.
In this, both were mistaken; Jean did not change his mind.

In the month of September, 1876, Paul de Lavardens was rejected at Saint-Cyr, and Jean Reynaud passed eleventh at the Ecole Polytechnique.